Certain marks referenced herein may be common-law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks is for providing an enabling disclosure by way of example and shall not be construed to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter to material associated with such marks.
Hockey players recognize the need for safety equipment, such as helmets, shoulder pads, elbow pads, gloves, pelvic protectors, shin guards, mouth guards and neck guards. Neck guards may help protect against broken necks, however, when a player falls or is pushed to the ice when skating at high speed, the player can end up sliding head-first into the wall around the rink, a goal post or another player, possibly resulting in head and neck injuries, or feet-first or sideways, possibly resulting in broken ankles, legs, arms or pelvis. There is little that a player in that situation can do to slow or stop the slide.
Prior-art attempts at ice traction and safety in other contexts include the following patent publications, each of which is incorporated by reference:
U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2014/0283289 A1 of Damon Hawkins published Sep. 25, 2014 with the title “Anti-slip slip-on slip-over roof safety shorts,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Publication US 2014/0283289 describes reduced coefficient of sliding friction between the wearer and the steep sloped surface. The anti-slip clothing can be an article of clothing such as a shirt, vest, jacket, poncho, coveralls, overalls, pair of shorts, pair of pants, waist-sashes or partial leg coverings, calf and forearm coverings, slip-over clothing such as slip-over shirts and fastenable slip-over shorts worn on the body or over other conventional articles of clothing and which includes a gripping surface applied to an exterior or optionally to the interior surface of the article of clothing so that when the inside non-slip surface contacts with the existing wearers conventional existing clothing it prevents slippage between the anti-slip clothing and the wearers conventional existing clothing.
PCT Application Publication No. WO 2012/138569 A1 of Michael Baldino published Oct. 11, 2012 with the title “Apparatus and method for fabricating and using non-slip garments,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Publication WO 2012/138569 describes a multilayered garment material that has a central layer composed of conventional fabric, an inner layer of highly frictional material that is distributed over large segments of the inner surface of the garment, and an outer layer of highly frictional material that is distributed over large segments of the outer surface of the garment. The external layers of frictional material prevent slippage of the garment on the skin, and slippage of the garment when it is in contact with external surfaces. While any number of suitable materials can be used as the high friction material. In one preferred but non-limiting embodiment the high friction material may be silicone material or another high friction rubber such as Spand-E-Sol™, commercially available from Rutland Technologies headquartered in North Carolina.
U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2017/0013888 of Jasen L. Webb published Jan. 19, 2017 with the title “Functional and aesthetic frictional support,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Publication US 2017/0013888 describes a garment configured to aid in frictional support for a user during an exercise to reduce slipping and sliding between the garment and an object. The garment includes gripping areas located on a front or back of the garment. Gripping areas of various different shapes and sizes may be located in a multiplicity of suitable areas of the garment. Gripping areas may be applied to an outer and/or inner surface of the fabric of the garment. Gripping areas may be made of a grip material that exerts a greater frictional force on the object in contact with the gripping areas. Gripping areas may include multiple gripping members of various different shapes and patterns. These various gripping patterns and shapes enable the gripping areas to provide an aesthetically pleasing and functional garment, at the same time, maintain the breathability of the fabric from which the garment is made.
PCT Application Publication WO 2008/094049 A1 of Burkhard Bönigk published Aug. 7, 2008 with the title “A textile material,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Publication WO 2008/094049 describes a device to be fitted to an automobile wheel in order to increase friction between the wheel and the road surface during winter conditions that is made substantially from textile material and includes a belt to encircle the tread of the wheel and be held in place by outer and inner side portions, the inner side portion having an elastic member. The belt of the device is made from a band of textile material provided with stripes) of abrasive material set in a matrix of a binding agent adhering firmly to the band material.
European Application Publication No. EP 2006127 A2 of Tatsuo Konishi et al. published Dec. 24, 2008 with the title “Tire chain made of textile,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Publication EP 2006127 describes a tire chain made of fiber excellent in weight saving and storage property. that is excellent in durability, braking performance, and hill-climbing performance. The fiber tire chain is removably installed to a tire and is made of a knit fabric in which at least a portion covering a contact patch of a tire. A relationship between a space area (S) of a mesh of knit fabric and a width (W) of a strand of the knit fabric satisfies 2≤S1/2/W≤15. A thickness of a burl portion of the knit fabric (knit fabric portion) is three times or less as a thickness of a net leg portion of the knit fabric.
United States Patent Publication US 2010/0162590 of Burkhard Bonigk published on Jul. 1, 2010 with the title “Friction enhancing device,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Patent Publication 2010/0162590 describes a sole for a pedestrian's shoe or a slipover device for such a shoe has a base consisting of a non-woven microfiber material made of thermoplastic polyester PVC knobs or polyamide. The microfiber material is exposed in an arcuate section in the front foot portion, in the mid-foot portion and in a wheel-shaped section in the heel portion of the sole. An elastomer material is deposited as rounded knobs onto the microfiber material in a fore portion of the front foot portion and in a ring and sectors in the heel portion of the sole. A PVC material is deposited, also in the form of rounded knobs, in a transverse band in the front foot portion and in a larger part of the heel portion so as to surround the ring. The use of the microfiber material as a means of enhancing friction on an icy surface is also disclosed.
According to www.interweave.com/article/weaving/what-is-terry-cloth/, “Terry-cloth is a pile weave, which means that there are uncut loops woven into the fabric on one or both sides, which are raised above the groundcloth. Pile weaves can have cut or uncut loops, woven either weft-wise or warp-wise, but terry-cloth is always warp-wise, hence the need for supplemental warps! The first terry-cloth towels were handwoven from silk, made in France in 1841. The name ‘terry’ came from the French word ‘tirer,’ which means ‘to pull out or through.’ This clearly referred to the supplemental warps, which were ‘pulled out’ to create the distinctive loops that make terry-cloth so absorbent and soft. Throughout the mid-1800s, several British and United States manufacturers began mass-producing woolen and then cotton terry-cloth. Both industrially and in the home, terry-cloth is usually woven on a loom with two warp beams: one for the groundcloth warp threads, and one for the pile warp.”
U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,173 to Silver issued on May 16, 2006 with the title “Microfiber towel with cotton base,” and is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,173 describes a terry fabric having increased static and dynamic absorbency includes a ground fabric having opposing first and second surfaces and woven from ground warp yarns and ground fill yarns, each of the ground warp yarns and ground fill yarns consisting of at least one cellulosic fiber; and terry warp yarns interwoven with the ground warp yarns and ground fill yarns to form terry loops extending from opposing surfaces of the ground fabric, the pile yarns consisting of microfiber.
United States Patent Application Publication 2004/0224121 by Sheppard published on Nov. 11, 2004 with the title “Towel fabric with cotton and microfiber faces,” and is incorporated herein by reference. Patent Publication 2004/0224121 describes a fabric for decorative towels that combines exceptional hand and image-carrying capability with high strength and absorbency. The fabric includes two different pile faces, preferably opposite one another, with one of the faces being formed of synthetic filaments of 0.9 denier or less—i.e., microfibers—for providing strength and absorbency, with the other of the faces of the fabric being formed of cotton for providing desirable hand and decorative design capabilities, and with the synthetic microfiber face being more absorbent on a weight-for-weight basis than the cotton face.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,465,683 to McMurray issued on Dec. 16, 2008 with the title “Functional double-faced performance warp knit fabric, method of manufacturing, and products made there from,” and is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 7,465,683 describes an integrally formed stretch warp knit fabric structure formed using at least three guide bars, a fully or partly threaded first front guide bar, a second fully or partly threaded middle guide bar and third fully or partly threaded back guide bar that are knitted to form one single layer fabric having definitive two-sided qualities; and a method of making the fabric; and articles using said fabric.
There remains a need for a slide-inhibiting garment to quickly slow down sliding on ice or snow, especially hockey players and other ice skaters.